


False Names and Old Faces

by black_rose4



Series: Seeing Red [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 01:32:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5951137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_rose4/pseuds/black_rose4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My half of an art trade, in which the Hero of Ferelden joins the Inquisition under a false name, but is quickly recognised when she greets an old acquaintance, the Inquisitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	False Names and Old Faces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orokay](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=orokay).



She’s sat on Josephine’s desk when they all emerge from the War Room, Reif leading the way, always eager to leave their meetings first. She’s throwing a piece of parchment shaped so it flies around and around the room, which she catches and quickly straightens at the sight of the Inquisitor coming into the room. She scrambles to her feet as three others follow on her heel, all talking amongst themselves. 

Reif clocks her as she straightens out her clothing, the typical Inquisition scout’s uniform. She looks at her, confused. “What are  _you_  doing here?”

“Richardine Fondlur, your Grace, Inquisition scout. I have a report for m’lady Nightingale.” Her face is composed, but a smile is making the corner of her lip twitch and Reif can tell she’s trying not to laugh. She’s not the only one. 

“Really, you went with Richardine?  _Dick_?” Reif steps away from the Advisors as she goes to inspect her ‘scout’. “You look more like a  _Ball_  Fondlur to me, not a Dick.”

Her smile finally wins out and curls the scout’s lips into a smirk. “I can be any kind of Fondlur you like, your Inquisitorialness.” The familiar muffled snigger of a man comes from behind Reif and beside him Leliana sighs softly, a smirk on her lips. Josephine, however, does not seem to share her colleagues’ mirth. “Would someone care to fill me in on who this woman is and what is so exceedingly funny?”

“Josie, it appears our Scout Fondlur here is actually the Hero of Ferelden and unless I am mistaken, it seems she and the Reif are somehow already acquainted.”

Josephine sighs. “That explains their shared sense of humour.” She steps closer to the Hero and offers her a bow and a smile. “Andaran atish’an, Lady Mahariel. May I enquire as to the reason of your visit?”

“I’m here for the Inquisitor actually. Any chance I can steal her away?”

Reif answers before any of her Advisors can. “I’m free. Let’s go.” They don’t bother shouting for her to come back as she takes the Hero by the arm and steers her out of Josephine’s office. “Come on, let’s go to the tavern. I’ll treat you to my favourite drink, on me.” 

They don’t linger long enough to draw attention to themselves, the sight of the Inquisitor with a fellow elf apparently not an exceptional one to the nobility in the Great Hall. Once at the tavern, Reif steers the Hero towards a spot in the corner near the bar and a waitress comes over to their table, smiling. “The usual, your Worship?” 

“Yes please. For both of us.” 

She smiles and disappears back behind the bar, leaving Reif and her friend to reacquaint themselves. “So  _Dick_  what brings you here? Shouldn’t you be out there doing Grey Warden stuff?”

Arte chuckles. “I heard there was a Dalish elf leading the Inquisition. I had to come and see for myself if it was bullshit or not. Apparently not.” The barmaid makes a swift return, mugs in hand, which she sets down on the table in front of the elves before leaving. Arte continues once she’s gone. “So, how’d you manage that?”

“How else?” laughs Reif. “Really  _really_  bad luck. Seriously, I thought you had it bad, what with the whole ‘accidentally catching the Blight’ thing, but I  _might_  be able to rival you.”

“Now  _that_  I’d like to see. Hit me. What did you do to land you as the leader of this, ahem, lovely organisation?” 

Reif downs half her drink as she begins her tale from the beginning. Her sister suggesting she go to the Conclave to earn back the Keeper’s trust for all her reckless behaviour. Stumbling upon the Divine and whatever the fuck that crazy shit was and blacking out after that. Waking up in chains - “and not in the good way” - and being accused of blowing up the Conclave - “even I would remember doing that, I swear”. “The rest of it’s been a whole crazy mess of people thinking putting me in charge was a good idea, having to lead and make decisions, and  _oh yeah_  have a giant darkspawn magister claim I stole his magical orb and try and kill me to get the fucking thing back - which by the way, is apparently now impossible to do.” She holds up her left hand and shows Arte the Anchor there. “When I stumbled upon the Divine I apparently interrupted some spell and this little fucker latched itself onto my hand and apparently me using it to fix the mess that popped up after Conclave, the rifts and shit, that somehow glued it permanently to my hand or something. I dunno, I was too busy worrying about not being responsible for the deaths of a whole army’s worth of people to fully listen to him talk about himself.”

She sighs and takes another swig of her drink. “All I know for sure is this whole thing is one giant mess of crazy shit and I’m unfortunate enough to be in the middle of it, stuck here by this thing.” 

Arte gulps down a swig of alcohol “Well, that sucks. I mean, I’m glad it’s not me - no offence or anything, but I’ve had enough shit to deal with for one lifetime. Magical glowing marks and an angry darkspawn magister do not sound fun though, so you have my sympathies there. But I’ve already been there and done that with the darkspawn magister, don’t plan on doing it again. Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine. You’ve had enough messes to deal with. I’m sure I can take one for the team and all that bullshit.”

They make idle chatter after that, working their way through a few more rounds of drinks, swapping stories and tall tales. The longer they talk, the more frustrated Arte becomes. She’s sure she knows Reif from somewhere, but where? She racks her brain as they talk, probing for information that might trigger something as best as she can. 

Finally, a memory matches with the face in front of her and Arte breaks off mid-conversation. “Now I remember!” Reif stops mid-sentence, mouth slightly agape. “We’ve fucked. At Arlathvhen. You were the wild red-head.  _Fuck me_ , that was a good night! I had so much fun.” 

“Glad to know I’m memorable. Though so are you. Just saying…”She grins, mischief glinting in her eyes. “You know, I’ve learned plenty since that time at Arlathvhen. I can show you, if you’d like…”

Arte cocks an eyebrow then finishes off her drink. “Lead the way, Inquisitor.”

* * *

 

“ _Wow_. That was -  _fuuuck_.”

Reif chuckles and props herself up on her elbows, looking up at Arte, still at the top of the bed. “That somehow managed to beat last time we fucked and  _that_  was fucking amazing.” 

Arte motions for her to join her and slowly but surely Reif manages to untangle herself from in amongst the sheets and find her way back up to the top of the bed. She collapses beside Arte, sighing contently as she hits the pillow. The two of them lay there together, completely sated and content with their current situation. 

It isn’t long though before Arte is rolling out of bed and Reif is waving an arm around to try and stop her. “Whoa whoa whoa. Where do you think you’re going?”

“…I need a piss.”

“Right. Carry on. Then get your butt back in bed because there’s no way I’m letting you go back to…wherever the hell you’ve been sleeping. Shit, where have you been sleeping?” 

Arte waits until she’s done to answer her. “I’ve been fine. I’ve got a bedroll and…space. It’s comfier than some of the places I’ve slept, even if it is fucking freezing.”

Reif drags her back into bed and throws a few furs over them. “Well I can guarantee you won’t freeze your tits off in here because (a) we can share body heat and (b) for some reason that fire never goes out - seriously, I think someone comes and stokes it in the night or maybe it’s been magically enchanted to never go out - fuck if I know.” To her surprise, Arte curls into her, using her chest as a pillow. Reif chuckles once, surprised to be the one being cuddled into for a change, then settles down along with her. “All I know, is despite it being freezing cold out there, I can walk around my room naked whenever I want and I won’t freeze my tits off. And if that’s not a great use of power, then I don’t know what is.”

Arte chuckles softly. “A-fucking-men to that.”


End file.
